Camp Hogwarts
by WELOVEOLYMPUS's Penguin6232
Summary: In Wizarding America, our story begins with young Luke and Thalia and segues into Percy's struggle with his paternal family's blood purist ideals and his magical adventures in the halls of Ilvermorny. And Jason? Check Area 51 :) Canon ships, canon personalities. Canon deaths and choices...? Maybe not!
1. The Diary of Luke Castellan

Luke was still writing in that diary. She could hear the scratching of his pencil before she could see it. Eyes closed, Thalia rolled over and grabbed at the noise.

"That's my leg."

She tried again.

"That's my wrist."

She pushed herself up from the ground, careful not to pull on any of Annabeth's long hair. It was Luke who had taken her in with the promise of them being her new family, but Thalia couldn't deny that she saw her old family in Annabeth as well. She debated referring to her mother and Jason as her real family and decided that Luke was more of a guardian than her mother could ever be. If Jason were still alive, she imagined he would be about Annabeth's age. With blonde hair. And piercing eyes. Thalia sighed.

"What are you writing in there anyway?"

"Um. Not much. Anything, really. Hal said it would help with my choices in the future."

The future. It weighed on both of them- the prophecy that Hal gave, where Thalia would sacrifice herself for her friends while Luke betrayed them.

"Divination isn't an exact art. You shouldn't think too much about what he said; I know you'd never betray us."

"I know, too, but I thought I should respect his advice, since he...saved us."

Thalia yawned and gave him a pat on the back.

"Well, rest up. It's your turn to cook breakfast."

She stood up and stretched. Luke closed the diary, but he made no motion to sleep.

"Thalia, I've been thinking."

"About what Hal said?" She frowned.

"Well, yeah, but more about Annabeth. You and I have been on the run for a long time, but she's clearly young and scared. There's a lot we can try to do to protect her, but I'm kind of wondering if we can keep our promise."

Thalia sat down, edging her way next to Luke.

"There's nothing we can do about it."

"But I wonder if there _is_ something we can do about it. Do all wizards and witches live like this? In fear, without families? Magic popped up _somewhere_ in our families, but aren't there people with entire bloodlines like this who don't have to live in fear of being used or attacked or anything?"

She gave it some thought, but there didn't seem to be anything they could do about it.

"Sorry," Luke said. " I don't really know what I meant to say. But I feel like there should be a better way."

"Look. The magic goat led me to you and Annabeth. Maybe we'll meet more and more people like us, and we can _make_ that better way. We'll have a big family, open to everyone who needs one, and it starts with us and her." She lightly punched him in the arm. "Now stop thinking so much, and go to sleep. I'm tired of talking."

Luke looked down and smiled. Hal was wrong. He could never betray friends like these.


	2. Arachnid Nights

Annabeth knows she's dreaming, but there's nothing she can do about it. Her dad always told her to take control of the dream, but she's tried, and it never works. Her dad doesn't dream. Her stepmother doesn't either. She knows they love her, because they make sacrifices for her, but they never tell her that, so it doesn't feel like they do. It's only when they get in arguments that Mrs. Chase tells Annabeth how much she cares and how it hurts that her stepdaughter doesn't appreciate what she does. Annabeth's dad doesn't get in arguments. He's too busy.

This night, she's transported back to their house in Virginia. It's a little after Thanksgiving, and her dad is off at work again. Mrs. Chase tells her that it's because he wants to spend Christmas with their family, but Annabeth doesn't understand why he can't spend weekends with them too. Mrs. Chase bakes cookies and tells her not to ask so many questions. Annabeth's mind is filled with questions. Who is her real mother? Why did she leave?

It's getting cold out, but there are spiders in her room. Mrs. Chase tells her it's the cookies. She yells at Annabeth for eating in her bedroom. Annabeth understands that she's wrong, but she doesn't like admitting it. And besides, she doesn't eat in her room that often. She eats in the nursery sometimes, and there are never spiders there.

Still dreaming, Annabeth sees the enormous spiders crawl out of her closet. They seem to materialize out of thin air. They drop from her ceiling, slip through the windows, and she screams- she screams loud enough for the nursery to erupt in crying, and Mrs. Chase makes her way over. Annabeth reaches for the light, but it's her stepmother that opens it. She looks for the bites to prove her story, but they're already fading. Her stepmother tells her not to overreact. They'll call an exterminator soon. They're not calling her dad. Annabeth cries. Her stepmother pulls the blankets up to Annabeth's chin, and while Annabeth isn't happy, she's glad it's over.

Mrs. Chase closes the door.

It's dark, and Annabeth screams.

But it's Thalia who shakes her awake and asks what's wrong. Annabeth is crying, and she doesn't want to talk about it. Especially since it wasn't even real this time. Thalia opens her arms and lets her cry. She feels bad, because she sees Luke's eyes opening, and she knows he already slept less than she did. Luke props himself up and gives her a hug, too. Eventually, she tells them her story. Her mother, the spiders, the guilt. Luke tells them about his story. His mother was just as bad- and she baked cookies too! Thalia's eyes are sharp when they look towards her, but she softens and tells them about Jason. And how her family politics took him away from her.

Luke repeats what he told her before. "You're part of our family now." And he keeps repeating it, until she looks into his eyes and Thalia's, and she can put her dad and stepmother in the past. Pretty soon, she's asleep again.

Luke tells Thalia to sleep. It's his turn to watch.


	3. Mysteries and Mayhem

"Let's _go_!"

There were crashing noises in the background. Something with glowing eyes retreated from Luke's spell. Suffocating as it was, the smoke made Annabeth hungry.

"I said to go," Thalia growled. She took Annabeth by the hand and dragged her away from the rubble. It seemed like every time they got close to figuring something out about their heritage and powers, they'd be attacked. It was worth it, to learn how to defend themselves, but Annabeth wondered if it was something about the books that cursed them to be forever on the run. She let Thalia lead her away.

"Luke?" Thalia called. "Luke, you okay?"

He stumbled toward them, clutching his head. "Yeah, just banged my head while casting that spell. Sorry I burned down the safe house. I think it's the wand; Hal said it might not respond to me as well as it did to him, and-"

"Doesn't matter, it's fine. Something's wrong with my leg."

"Annabeth, hold my wand?" She slipped her dagger into a pocket and took the wand. It was long and dusty and clearly made for someone else. Luke told her it was a gift from an old wizard who saved him and Thalia before they met Annabeth. Only Thalia had her own wand, picked out the day her brother was born.

Luke rolled up Thalia's pant leg and touched the skin. She startled but didn't say anything. It was bleeding and starting to swell, but just by touch, he didn't think it was broken. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, but it hurts. I could probably make it into the woods, but our closest safe house is too far away, and I didn't grab any money." Luke nodded.

"It's probably not good for any of us to try and buy anything in this state anyway." Thalia's pants were dirty, and the bottom was soaked in the blood from her wound. Annabeth's hair was a tangled, sooty mess, and her clothes looked as grey as her determined eyes. Luke looked the best, but even he had dirt and soot on his shirt and face. "Annabeth, you memorize any healing spells?"

"Hard to read," she answered. Thalia never tried to look at the books, because she had some problem where the letters moved around, and while Annabeth had a good memory, she couldn't quite sound out words like A-lo-ho-mo-ra.

"Yeah, probably shouldn't have asked."

"We have to go," Thalia reminded them. Luke's eyes had glazed over. He was still holding Thalia's leg, but his mind was far, far away. Annabeth prodded him with the wand to get his attention.

"Oh! Right. Sorry." He took a deep breath and made his decision. "I actually used to live around here…"

* * *

Annabeth played with a beanbag toy, mindlessly working her way through cookies and juice. Mrs. Castellan looked nothing like Annabeth's stepmother, but homesickness and the abundant baking made her feel like she was spending a peaceful day with Mrs. Chase. Maybe if she hadn't accidentally disappeared something that day. Or if there had been no monster attacks. Thalia took a bite from a burnt cookie and washed it down with red Kool-Aid. She tried to imagine Luke living with his mother for nine years, subsisting only on food like these. There were sandwiches, too, but none of it looked like proper food, and Thalia kind of doubted that Mrs. Castellan had money or a job for Luke to buy food himself, with the amount of time she had to spend making these snacks. She wondered how they survived in the first place.

Unless she only grew fixated on these items after Luke left. Which was possible. Luke had never mentioned his mother only wanting to feed him sandwiches, cookies, and juice, after all. And maybe his father paid child support, or something. It was definitely possible.

The cookies were hard, but they tasted alright fresh out of the oven. Mrs. Castellan was pouring them more Kool-Aid as she told them about Luke's adventures in Westport. She was sweet, but Thalia couldn't ignore the empty packets of Kool-Aid powder strewn across the table and floor. She could see Tupperware full of cookies, some even molding, and she remembered the way fear entered Luke's voice when he talked about the fits his mother had when he was home.

"Your cookies are burning," Thalia said.

"Are they?" Her face fell. "Let me go take them out of the oven. Call me if Luke comes back! He was looking forward to having a tray of them…" She made her way over to the burning cookies as Luke walked into the living room. His face flickered in the candle light, features almost liquid.

"Annabeth. Luke's back," Thalia whispered, rubbing her leg nervously. The bandages were just right, but she was starting to feel uncomfortable with Mrs. Castellan's hospitality. Annabeth turned, cookie in hand. Can we go now?

Luke shook his head ever so slightly and walked past them to his mother. "Mom?"

"Luke, my boy! You're back!" She pulled him into a hug before he could respond. Thalia jerked in her seat, but he seemed comfortable with the gesture. He wrapped his arms around her, nodding.

"I'm back."

"Is my boy all right?" She broke away from his grasp, patting down his arms.

"Yeah. I'm leaving now, okay?"

"No, no, don't go! I have your lunch ready." Mrs. Castellan took a peanut butter sandwich from the closest box of sandwiches and pressed it into his hands. "Stay safe, okay? And visit often. I'll always have something ready for you and your friends."

"I will." He looked back at them. "Thalia, Annabeth. Let's go." Annabeth nodded eagerly. She brushed the crumbs off of her hands, hopped out of her chair, and helped Thalia through the door. Luke followed slowly, gingerly locking the screen door as he went. They were a few meters from the house when his mother began shaking.

"My son," she hissed. "Danger. Terrible fate!"

Luke turned his face to the sky as Thalia hurried Annabeth toward their closest safe house.


	4. The Scarlet Letter

Annabeth was snoring.

"Still writing in that diary? You know it's my turn to take watch, right?"

He was liquid again, in the light of their campfire.

"It's not the diary. I'm reading this letter."

"What's it say?"

He tilted it so Thalia could see.

"Li...ver...money?" She read. "Are you planning to sell your organs?" His face screwed up in laughter, but he stayed silent. Probably for Annabeth's sake. Luke waved his left hand in dissent, not yet calm enough to answer.

"It says _Ilvermorny_," he said. "I found it in my old room when we were there earlier."

"I still don't get it. What's Ilvermorny?"

"I don't know, but it says it's a school of witchcraft and wizardry. The school supplies and stuff are here, too. The date is from three years ago, so I guess I'm too late, but you might be the right age."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when we were talking about how Annabeth should have a better life?"

"Yeah, and I said we would just keep finding kids like us and take care of them forever?" She didn't like what Luke was implying. It wasn't that she didn't want to settle down somewhere safe, but Thalia felt like they were doing fine on their own. Besides, she didn't want to be made fun of for her reading problems again.

"Come on, Thalia. It could be our only hope."

"I'm not going anywhere without you. We don't even know where Ilvermorny is, or how they found you. Couldn't it be a scam?"

"I guess, but just think about it," he urged. He didn't look convinced, but Thalia knew she'd won. There was no way for them to contact the sender, and the letter was from three years ago. The school could be busted by now.

Thalia shrugged. "I will." _I guess_.

"Good." He folded the letter back up and closed the envelope. "Good night, Thalia," he said, lying by Annabeth on the dirt floor. His eyes were still open, though. Expectant. The fire was beginning to die down, and Thalia stomped on it a few times to make sure the sparks wouldn't light anything on fire.

"Good night, Luke."


	5. Hestia Grace

"Luke, get down!" Thalia ordered. She pushed Annabeth off of the cliff before jumping herself. "Spongify!" It sounded ridiculous, but she'd practiced it a few times and could only hope that it would work as intended to soften their landing. The ground turned to jelly beneath her.

_Boing~_

"I'm bouncing!" Annabeth shrieked.

"Bend your legs!"

Luke fired one last shot at the man chasing them before launching himself toward the ground. He sprung up, knees a little bruised from the impact.

"Go, go, go, go." He pushed them forward. Thalia looked over her shoulder, but there was no sign of the man who had chased them, yelling profanities and shooting his gun. He'd gotten her arm, but not too badly. It was just a graze, and their closest safe house was-

"Halt!"

A group of women made their way toward Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia. They wore silver jackets that seemed to glow in the midmorning and carried an assortment of weapons. Thalia could see bows, hunting rifles, and at least a few wands. Her eyes narrowed at the wands, but none of the girls had attacked yet. She got the feeling that they were all much more experienced than herself and her friends.

The woman in front approached. She looked to be in her early twenties, with a long, dark braid and bronzed skin, but Thalia was more interested in her canines. Did vampires exist? She'd seen a lot of strange things, but that would be a first. The rest of the group seemed to have regular teeth though. One woman's cheeks were covered an oddly scaly pattern. Another stared at them with eyes cold and silver as the moon.

"Name yourselves."

"L-Luke. Castellan," he said hurriedly. Thalia looked to her side, where Luke's attention was on the silver-eyed girl. She frowned at him, but he shook his head. Just tell them, he mouthed.

"Annabeth Chase."

She didn't really have another choice.

"Thalia...Grace." She spat the last word out, hating it. Hating that she had it. He never helped, never visited, never even gave them money, unlike Luke's father; Luke had explained to her after their visit to Mrs. Castellan's that it was the only way his mother could make those sandwiches day in and day out, but Thalia's father didn't seem to care about what happened to her family. They had just slowly run out of money when her mother's popularity fell through. It didn't seem fair that she used his last name, but Thalia Jason didn't quite sound right, and she wasn't interested in taking her mother's last name either. As if Beryl ever did much parenting.

The group reacted. Something about the name made them pay attention, because one woman approached them carefully, dark hair peeking out from under a cloth hood.

"Child, who is your father?"

"I have no father," Thalia muttered. She remembered the man who had given her the wand, but he'd left so quickly. Why hadn't he taken her and Jason with him? He had to know how Beryl's moods were. He had to know they got worse when he was gone.

"And your mother?"

She fiddled with Hal's charm bracelet, eyes smarting. Luke squeezed her arm supportively.

"Beryl."

The woman paused for a few moments.

"Zoë, take the boy and Annabeth. Don't turn the boy into a jackalope this time."

She offered a hand to Thalia, who looked back at her friends. Luke nodded, offering a thumbs up. He was holding Annabeth's hand, and Annabeth was talking pretty excitedly to the woman whose wand had been pointed at them just moments ago. They were probably going to be okay. Thalia took the hand.

"Who are you?" She asked. "What do you want from me?" She looked into the woman's eyes and noticed with a little surprise that she was only slightly taller than Thalia herself.

"My name is Hestia Grace. That's why I was surprised to hear your name."

"Does it mean something? There are probably lots of people with the same last name." The woman smelled like hot milk and pumpkin pie- all homey things that should have made Thalia feel comfortable but instead reminded her of Mrs. Castellan.

They stopped in front of a large, silver tent.

"I knew your mother, Beryl," Hestia said. She lifted the flap of the tent for Thalia and gestured for her to go inside. "Go on." Thalia's brow scrunched, but she crouched to enter.

There was a rug inside.

But it was actually the fur of a dead animal. Antlers decorated the walls of the tent, which was kind of weird, because in her memory, tents were usually pretty flimsy. A bow rested on the same wall, just under the wild spoils.

"Are you guys hunters?"

"Hm? Not in the way that you assume. We're aurors. Well, vigilantes, now."

The first word didn't make much sense to her, so she focused on the second. _Vigilantes_.

"You hunt down bad guys?"

"You could say that. But enough about me; don't you want to know more about your parents?"

She didn't really, but they were probably the reason Hestia and that other girl, Zoë, hadn't attacked.

"Okay," she said finally. It seemed to be the answer Hestia was looking for, because her pensive eyes became warm, like melted chocolate.

"Tea?"

"No thanks."

"Pumpkin juice?"

"No, really. I'm fine." Thalia had been around the world with her mother, and Beryl would always force her to try the regional specialties. It either meant Thalia would have a new favorite dish that she could never eat again or a new food to absolutely despise. Seriously. Why did West Virginia have a Roadkill Cooking Festival? And why did people who had absolutely no idea how to even remove gravel from their food get to sell their food for money? She was slightly disgusted by the memory. Pumpkin juice, like watermelon juice, mango juice, and gingerbread Coca-Cola, sounded like one of many things Thalia wanted to stay far away from.

There was a pause.

"Your father and I were not exactly close," Hestia began. "I was the oldest of six, and your father and Jupiter were youngest." _Maybe that's why he could never take full responsibility for Jason and I_. She didn't sympathize, but it gave her a reason to latch onto. It wasn't _her_ fault.

"We all went to Ilvermorny together, except Jupiter. That's where Zeus met your mother." Thalia had zeroed in on Ilvermorny, and she realized with a little shock that it meant her mother was a witch.

"Beryl had the most beautiful blonde hair. Demetria, who was in the Wampus dorm with her, said Beryl woke up before the sun rose every morning for hair and makeup. I think Zeus fell in love with how glamorous and poised she was." That sounded right. Her mother was always the most stunning woman in the room. She had to be. Beryl saved money and skipped meals to wear the trendiest clothes and maintain her 80's hair. She nagged Thalia for not taking care of her appearance, but Thalia was pretty sure that her mother would have been angrier if she dared to outshine her.

"They had enormous personalities. Your mother always wanted to be an actress, and Zeus is the most dramatic man I know. He liked Floo powder not because it helped him get places quickly, but because it was a flashy way of getting into people's houses. I always warned him that his penchant for big entrances would get him stuck somewhere in the wrong grate or between fireplaces, but they never did." Thalia listened carefully, but the words didn't fit with the father she knew. Or did she know anything about him? She recalled a few instances when he would visit to check in on her and her mother, and then she saw him for the few months after Jason was born. He had been stern. Serious. Not at all like the man Hestia described, who was loud and theatrical and reckless. But the man Thalia remembered, who acted like a real parent, wouldn't have left her and Jason with Beryl. Either way, it didn't make any sense.

"What's Floo powder?"

Hestia took a small handful of glittering silver powder from a jar by the fireplace and let it run through her fingers.

"When you toss this into the fireplace of a wizarding household, you can instantly visit any other magical residence. Is there anyone you want to see?"

_My mother._

No.

Hal came to mind, but even if she hadn't seen his house burn down with her own eyes, their time together had been a generally unpleasant memory. If there was any possibility she could be stranded in that mansion full of monsters, without anyone she knew this time…

"No."

Hestia's warm, brown eyes studied her. She didn't look very much like what Thalia remembered of her father. She didn't act very similarly either.

"Are you worried about your friends right now?"

"A little bit. Am I allowed to leave?" It felt a little forward, but the truth was that Thalia didn't care that much about her parents. She would rather hear Mrs. Castellan tell her about Luke chasing baby birds or something.

"Of course. Zoë?"

The dark-haired woman was inside the tent faster than Thalia would have liked.

"Bring Thalia's friends. They're ready to leave. And Thalia? Have you gotten your Ilvermorny letter yet?"

She froze.

"My what?"

"Never mind," said Hestia, "Zoë, go ahead."

Zoë led her out of the tent. Thalia could see Annabeth and Luke talking to one of the women in the distance. It was that silver-eyed girl again. Luke spotted her and waved, but Annabeth didn't seem to see her.

"There is no need to wait for an Ilvermorny letter."

"What?" She looked over with tired eyes.

"There is another option for girls. Has Lady Hestia explained to you the purpose of our group?"

"She told me you were vigilante aurors."

"We hunt witches and wizards who have turned to the Dark Arts," Zoë said, "Lady Hestia invites thee to join the Hunt. She offers immortality, eternal youth, and a purpose in exchange for thy loyalty and promise to swear off romantic love and male companionship."

"No thanks," said Thalia.

"Do you hesitate because of that boy, Luke? Thou art in love with him?"

"No. I'm just not interested in being part of your little club. I don't want anything to do with catching witches and wizards or whatever."

"He will let you down someday."

"No, he won't," Thalia said, walking away.

"They always do!" Zoë yelled after her. "You're being irrational. Stupid. He will betray you!"

"I don't care. Shut up!" In her anger, Thalia realized that she'd been pulling tightly on the charm bracelet. She loosened her grip on it as she marched over to Luke and Annabeth.

"Thalia? You alright?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Have you made up your mind?" The woman was asking Annabeth.

"I-"

"She has to go," Thalia said.

"Keep thinking about it," the woman urged.

"Okay," Annabeth agreed as Thalia dragged her away.

"Thalia, what are you doing?"

"We're leaving," Thalia replied. "I'll tell you later."

Annabeth waved at the Hunters as they walked.

"See you soon!" She called into the distance.

_Not too soon_, Thalia hoped. She wasn't ready to tell Luke about Zoë's words, but it didn't feel right to hide what Hestia had said about Ilvermorny. Their trek was punctuated by Annabeth's happy squeals about what the woman had promised: immortality, friendship, safety.

"Didn't she tell you you'd have to give up spending time with Luke?"

That quieted Annabeth, but Thalia knew she had to face it. She and Luke were getting too old to be on the run, and Annabeth deserved a stable home. If there was a school out there willing to accept them and teach them how to master their magic…

A small, cranberry envelope landed on the ground in front of Thalia.


End file.
